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Jumpstart Automotive Insights Book Reveals Online Car Shopping Trends and Digital Marketing Best Practices


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SAN FRANCISCO March 28, 2013; To help marketers better understand the fast-moving nature of the automotive industry, the digital marketing experts at Jumpstart Automotive Group have released their third annual Insights Book, a year-long compilation of digital automotive studies, online car shopping trends, and industry perspective gleaned from the company's portfolio of 12 vehicle shopping and research websites. These websites represent 20 million in monthly car shoppers.

Jumpstart's Insights Book is comprised of important audience behaviors and shopping metrics, mobile and social media trends and tips, automotive brand-impact statistics, vehicle segment analytics, regional shopping trends, and more to help marketers understand:

  • The reasons why certain vehicle segments, makes and models generate more car shopper interest than others
  • The automotive marketing initiatives that have proven most effective in increasing interest and driving sales
  • The best ways to capture consumer attention and market share from competitive brands
  • The most effective marketing initiatives to improve quality and increase frequency of online vehicle purchase requests

"Jumpstart's analytics and insights provide a four-dimensional perspective of digital automotive marketing," said Libby Murad-Patel, Senior Director of Strategic Insights & Analytics for Jumpstart Automotive Group."We help online advertisers reach the right audience, with the right message, at the right time and place. Then we dig deep into post-campaign results to provide best practices advice to help marketers execute campaigns with direct, impactful, and sustainable results among car shoppers."

Important 2012 findings in the Jumpstart Automotive Insights Book include:

Audience Behavior and Shopping Metrics

  • Jumpstart's portfolio of sites represented a staggering 13 percent of automotive display advertising and nine percent of mobile ad inventory
  • Jumpstart's unique visitors grew 37 percent in 2012 , its largest year-over-year increase since 2008
  • Car shoppers increasingly turned to Jumpstart's sites by an average of nearly 24 percent after visiting third-party sites such as Edmunds.com, KBB.com and Cars.com; making 2012 the third year of gradual cross-visitation growth

Mobile Audience Shopping Metrics

  • On average, 23 percent of all Jumpstart visits came from mobile devices
  • Mobile visits to Jumpstart's portfolio of sites (The Auto Channel is not) grew 20 percent from Q1 to Q4 2012
  • Tablets represented approximately 36 percent of all Jumpstart mobile traffic and eight percent of total Jumpstart traffic

Auto Segment Trends

  • Sedans, SUVs and CUVs (Crossovers) were the most popular segments among Jumpstart's shoppers
  • SUV shopper volume declined nearly 10 percent to a five-year low
  • The Compact/Coupe segment increased nine percent in share, with Coupes and Luxury Coupes representing the primary drivers of growth in this segment

Auto Brand Trends

  • Ford held tight to the number one spot, with 14 percent share of Jumpstart shoppers. Chevrolet and Toyota rounded out the top three
  • Fiat experienced the highest jump in share of shoppers from 2011 to 2012 an increase of 35 percent
  • Honda dropped one full percentage point in share of shoppers, the largest percentage point decrease of any automotive brand

Make/Model-Specific Trends

  • Ford occupied five of the top 10 spots among car shoppers with its Mustang, Escape, Focus, F-150 and Fusion
  • Chevrolet Corvette and Nissan Altima were new to the top 10 list, replacing Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Impala
  • Ford Explorer saw a decrease in share of online shoppers and dropped out of Jumpstart's top 10 list, replaced by the automaker's popular Fusion

Additional highlights of the Jumpstart Automotive Group Insights Book include automotive winners and losers among online car shoppers in Jumpstart's 2012 Super Bowl Advertising Study; results of the company's Midsize Sedan Battle of the Brands analysis; expert Facebook automotive marketing tips from Jumpstart CEO Nick Matarazzo; and online car shopping trends by U.S. region, among others.

For your copy of the Jumpstart Automotive Group Insights Book, visit http://www.jumpstartautomotivegroup.com/insights or email Jennifer Lange at jlange@getsplashmedia.com.

About Jumpstart Automotive Group

Jumpstart Automotive Group, a Hearst Media Services company and a division of Hearst Magazine, brings innovative digital marketing solutions to automotive advertisers by empowering the performance and reach of automotive publisher partners. Jumpstart's unavoidable audiences span online and mobile platforms to generate awareness, shift perceptions and drive consideration for automotive advertisers with intelligent analytics and strategic product innovation. For more information, visit JumpstartAuto.com. Follow Jumpstart on Twitter @JumpstartAuto.